There came a point in my teens when my interests turned from Hüsker Dü to The Cardigans (not as big a leap as you might think), and thus began a short-lived love affair with twee pop. Tullycraft and Tilly and the Wall led to Beat Happening, which pointed me in the direction of darker European fare like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Jesus and Mary Chain. What I loved about these groups, especially The Jesus and Mary Chain, was that behind the wall of white noise they were basically like The Beach Boys or The Trashmen. (Need proof? Listen to the acoustic version of “Taste of Cindy” and try to tell me it would sound at all out of place on Surf’s Up.) Countless bands have tried to appropriate the sound of Psychocandy, and most of them really sucked. Black Tambourine took the sound and made it their own.
During the ‘90s no independent music scene in the United States was richer than Washington, D.C.’s. Noise was the name of the game, and few twee groups, if any, used an approach like Black Tambourine’s. Despite only releasing a handful of singles and performing infrequently and only in and around the D.C. area, Black Tambourine managed to become game changers of sorts. Where twee’s original appeal came from a sense of shambling vulnerability, Black Tambourine created a sound as threatening and aggressive as it was accessible, a tactic later used to good effect as the foundation of the Riot Grrrl movement.
In 1999 Slumberland Records compiled all of their known recordings into a collection with the imaginative title Complete Recordings. Now they’ve done it again, this time with the new and equally imaginative title Black Tambourine. This new compilation features everything included in the first one (remastered, though I couldn’t detect the difference), along with six new tracks. I was slightly disappointed to find that two of these “new songs” are just demos of songs we’ve had all along and two more are covers. The demos are neat, but like most things of this sort they’re best taken as historical curiosities. They offer more clarity than the released versions, but without the studio polish (i.e., distortion) there’s no punch or bite to ‘em. But, hey, if you’ve ever wanted to hear a limp, noiseless version of “For Ex-Lovers Only,” here you go.
The four new non-demos get off to a light start with a reinvention of Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat” as a short burst of nervy jangle pop, complete with the requisite obscured singing (it took me a few listens to recognize the covered song through all the murk and mumbling). “Lazy Heart,” which follows, is the better of the two new original songs. It fits in well with its elder bretheren and could easily have sat beside “Throw Aggi off the Bridge” or “We Can’t Be Friends” on the original releases, the presence of a self-consciously corny clap-along moment at the end not withstanding. “Tears of Joy,” the other new original, is a short throwaway (if there is such a thing when it comes to a group with such limited output), and even at its minute-and-a-half runtime the thing sounds as though it’s going to fall apart about halfway through. It’s filler, but it’s certainly . . . filling? And hats off to anybody who can figure out what Pam Berry is singing without a lyric sheet. The set finishes with another cover—this one perhaps a little better suited to Black Tambourine—“Dream Baby Dream,” by Suicide. It makes for a perfect endcap to their short career.
If you’re reading this you probably fall into one of two camps. The first includes people who, like me, already own Complete Recordings, and want to know if this new set is worth purchasing. The answer depends how much a handful of new songs are worth to you and whether or not the term “completist” applies to you. But what if Complete Recordings isn’t already a cornerstone of your collection? Well, I’d have to ask how you liked the new Ke$ha, since apparently you don’t dig music, but yes, you should absolutely buy Black Tambourine and listen to it lots. Dozens of popular twee bands lived fast and died young, as evinced by the overwhelming number of compilations from the genre, but Black Tambourine’s music isn’t just notable for its influence. They also happened to be a truly great band.
Track List:
1. For Ex-Lovers Only
2. Black Car
3. Pack You Up
4. Can’t Explain
5. I Was Wrong
6. Throw Aggi off the Bridge
7. Drown
8. We Can’t Be Friends
9. By Tomorrow
10. Pam’s Tan
11. For Ex-Lovers Only (demo)
12. Throw Aggi off the Bridge (demo)
13. Heartbeat (Buddy Holly cover)
14. Lazy Heart
15. Tears of Joy
16. Dream Baby Dream (Suicide cover)
